Smaller Than We Realized and Bigger Than We Hoped

Life is so short that sometimes it is difficult to comprehend. Perhaps it is why David, in his wisdom and most humble moments, prayed in the Psalms for God to make it obvious to him how small his world actually was:

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a mere handbreaths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”

Imagine being so eternally above the world that people’s lives seem like a breath or a shadow. That is what God experiences with us, because his presence is outside of time and does not operate within the limits that we do, with days, nights, years and lives. He is above and outside of it all. It’s why when people say, “I don’t think God would…” and fill in the blank with their opinion, it doesn’t make sense. How could we know what God would think or do when he does not even operate on the same playing field as us? He is above and over everything, existing before we even had the simplest thought.

None of this means we are meaningless. Just because God is big and we are small does not mean he does not value us. In fact, he valued us so much he decided to send his own Son to die on the cross for our sins. He gave us the freedom to choose – sin or life – and after years of patience hoping we would choose life, he recognized we wouldn’t do it on our own. Jesus came to save us from our sin and give us the very thing we needed but fail to provide by ourselves: life. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So what do we do when we humble ourselves and realize how small we are? Look at what David did. At the end of the passage he says the following: “And now, O Lord, for what do I do? My hope is in you.” The hope of God saves us. We are small, he is big. We cannot save ourselves, but he saves us. We want to experience life, and Jesus gives us the best life we could ever have: eternal life. That seems like something worth putting our hope in. *Scripture Reference: Psalm 39:4-6 (ESV)